9. Urban Climates and the Challenge of Sustainable Development of Chilean Cities

Rapid urbanization and countryside depopulation in Chile, as in the whole of Latin America, has not been accompanied by the available resources, urban planning and management necessary to supply urban societies and spaces with the required services and environmental quality. Although Chile currently has one of the highest indicators of per capita income and human development index in Latin America, and it has achieved some of the lowest poverty figures, Chilean cities still have neighborhoods where poverty is linked to a lack of opportunities and equipment, and higher insecurity levels that result from combining natural and socio-economic threats. The poor people live in places with urban heat islands, where a lack of vegetation dries the air and generally occupy areas with less ventilation, which, consequently, lead to a higher concentration of air pollutants. In contrast, richer inhabitants are used to living in areas of urban cooler islands, where temperatures are not as high because of the presence of gardens, urban forests, and parks. First, this chapter addresses the spatial relationships between land uses/cover changes and surface temperatures in Santiago de Chile. Second, such urban internal differences are represented by local climate zone (LCZ) analyses for some of the Chilean cities located throughout the country: Calama, Antofagasta, Valparaíso, Santiago, Concepción, and Chillán. Three cases of land use changes in Santiago neighborhoods (LCZs) are described and related to socioeconomic conditions. Urban heat islands and heat waves in Santiago are examined. Finally, the relationship between the spatial distribution of particulate matter, temperatures, urban geography, and socioeconomic groups are shown.